It's always a delight to see new Christians moving into the town and engaging with and committing to the WBC church family. Last year was a bumper year for baptisms and new church members, this year is presenting in a different way - that's so often how it goes! I'd be dishonest and fraudulent if I said that I do not carry the weight of the decision by those who choose to move on. These are painful moments which I carry deeply and lament over, especially when I've taken time to listen and build trust and friendship.
And it's often quite extraordinary how the Holy Spirit can send the church new people with specific gifting and ministries, not least in response to the church family praying together about what the practical needs of the church are. And so often that's what God does. Conversley, when the church doesn't do this, then the opposite is true. And guess what, nothing then happens!
And yet, as a Baptist Church, we specifically seek together what the vision and direction of the church is, and this is not always easy. Yet when we do find God's leading, and the people of God (church members) say "yes", then agreement unlocks the blessing of the Lord, and the Holy Spirit adds his blessing. Sometimes churches don't get this right, but more often than not they do. But pushing against that unity of the Holy Spirit is never going to end well.
It remains a challenge as to how long a person/people need to "season" (after arrival) in a church before conscious invitation to share in ministry is given. More often than not, particularly with demanding rotas, the hands of any new volunteers are snatched off not long after they have started to attend the church consistently, and that too requires wisdom, trust and pastoral insight. This is always an area of finely balanced sensitivity, especially when a ministry is desperate for help, yet wisdom would suggest "summering and wintering" is a sensible choice for all. In some churches, involvement in any ministry would not be permitted unless a person commits themselves to the church in membership. Though that may appear neat and tidy - even sensible, it isn't the case in WBC.
So for those coming into the church family, this can prove quite daunting. What is this church like? What is its vision? What are the ministries in which we might get involved? What small groups can we engage with? What is the Sunday teaching like? Did I get a good welcome? What is the worship like? What are children's and youth groups like? And probably a host of other questions too, not least "do they serve good coffee?" And as often stated, "if you find the perfect church, please don't join it, because you'll probably mess it up!"
What doesn't generally go down well is when someone arrives and starts telling you where the church is going wrong and how the church should be doing things, and seeking to implement their vision and direction, rather than walking in unity with the new Christian family "the church" that they have become a part of. That's always going to grate and cause tension, though I'd be the first to say that we should never close our ears to new ways of doing things, especially where and when churches can so often get themselves into a rut and forget what its core mission is. Pushing against the flow so often causes tension and disunity.
Change so often comes from within and is led by the discernment of the Church Members to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That's not to say that sometimes the Holy Spirit doesn't disrupt things (scripture is full of such events), but it is indeed the Holy Spirit, not the hands of humans, in strong contrast to human efforts that more often than not can cause human tension and division. And yes, scripture even have these scenarios in its pages too.
The Baptist way of being the church is unique, and I would argue biblical. This isn't necessarily the model within other churches, though some have tried to cherry-pick Baptist ecclesiology. Some churches have no congregational input, and decisions come downwards from the top, sometimes from a board of Elders, or from a PCC, or by one single authoritarian person - "an Apostle." Other churches seem unable to do anything at all unless they vote on absolutey everything. We'd be waiting a long time if we had to vote on the colour of the paint or whether we use green or blue milk in the coffee! Perhaps that's a touch tongue-in-cheek!
So Baptist Churches have the opportunity to weigh together what the Spirit is saying, and then to decide together, often guided by it's leadership team and it's Pastor and then together moving forward.
Blessed be the discernment of the Spirit, and the unity of the Spirit!
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